33 articles - From Saturday Mar 12 2022 to Friday Mar 18 2022
Guidelines, position statements, white papers, technical reviews, consensus statements, etc…
meta-analyses and systematic reviews
| Rheumatology (Oxford) |
Systemic glucocorticoid use and the occurrence of flares in psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis: a systematic review. Our results indicate that SGC are frequently prescribed for PsA and psoriasis patients. The occurrence of psoriatic flares appears to be low upon SGC exposure. In patients with a clear indication for SGC, e.g. in need of rapid anti-inflammatory therapy or bridging of therapies, the use of SGC should be considered in view of a low risk of skin flaring. It remains of importance to weigh risks for short- and long-term SGC-related side effects in clinical decision making. |
RCT, clinical trials, retrospective studies, etc…
| Ann Rheum Dis |
Factors predicting axial spondyloarthritis among first-degree relatives of probands with ankylosing spondylitis: a family study spanning 35 years. Occurrence of AAU among FDR of axSpA probands should prompt screening for axSpA. Moreover, co-occurrence of CIBP and pain/discomfort in the thoracic spine and at anterior chest wall as a three-question tool may further enhance clinical suspicion of axSpA among these FDR. |
Increment of immunogenicity after third dose of a homologous inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in a large population of patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Patients with controlled disease suspended mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for 7days or methotrexate (MTX) for 2 weekly doses after vaccination. Results ARD (n=597) and CG (n=199) had comparable age (p=0.943). Anti-S1/S2 IgG seropositivity rates significantly increased from D210 (60%) to D240 (93%) (p NCT04754698. |
Pausing methotrexate improves immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccination in elderly patients with rheumatic diseases. MTX reduces the immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in an age-dependent manner. Our data further suggest that holding MTX for at least 10 days after vaccination significantly improves the antibody response in patients over 60 years of age. |
| Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) |
Blood neutrophil count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predict disease progression and mortality in two independent systemic sclerosis cohorts. Higher blood neutrophil count and NLR are predictive of more severe disease course and increased mortality, indicating that these easily obtainable laboratory studies might be a reflection of pathological immune processes in SSc. |
Cause-Specific Mortality in Patients with Gout in the United States Veteran's Health Administration: A Matched Cohort Study. A higher risk of death among gout patients in the VHA was related to comorbidity burden. While deaths attributable to neurologic and mental health conditions were less frequent among gout patients, genitourinary conditions were the most overrepresented causes of death. |
Test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change of ultrasound-based methods of measuring synovial inflammation in knee osteoarthritis. In a clinical setting, US measures of inflammatory features of knee OA demonstrated substantial reliability and low-to-moderate sensitivity to change, whereas measures of structural OA features were less reliable. Longitudinal construct validity of US measures of synovitis and effusion to KOOS pain was not strongly supported. |
| Arthritis Res Ther |
'Not at target': prevalence and consequences of inadequate disease control in systemic lupus erythematosus-a multinational observational cohort study. Failure to achieve LLDAS, high average disease activity, and episodes of HDAS were prevalent in SLE and were significantly associated with poor outcomes including organ damage, glucocorticoid exposure, poor quality of life, and mortality. |
| Arthritis Rheumatol |
A comparison of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis classification systems with the Research in Arthritis in Canadian Children, Emphasizing Outcomes (ReACCh-Out) cohort. Current identified PRINTO disorders classify a minority of patients with JIA, leaving a large proportion with Other disorders requiring further characterization. Current PRINTO classifications do not appear to improve alignment with clinical-biological subtypes or adult forms of arthritis relative to the older ILAR system. |
Do corticosteroids injections increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis progression over 5years? In this study, IAC injections for symptomatic knee OA did not significantly increase the 5-year risk of incident TKR or radiographic worsening. These findings should be interpreted cautiously and replicated in other cohorts. |
Expert Perspective: Management of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis. The duration of immunosuppression following remission is guided by a number of factors, including the patient's overall clinical state, the degree of damage from previous disease activity, the tolerability of remission maintenance medications, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and immunity status. Certain features, including history of previous relapse, the presence of ANCA directed against proteinase 3, and diagnosis of granulomatosis with polyangiitis favor prolonged remission maintenance therapy. The interval between rituximab doses can usually be lengthened over time during the maintenance phase. |
| Rheumatology (Oxford) |
Associations of the MUC5B Promoter Variant with Timing of Interstitial Lung Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis Onset. The common MUC5B promoter variant was associated with RA-ILD onset earlier in the RA disease course and older age of RA onset. These findings suggest that MUC5B may impact RA-ILD risk early in the RA disease course, particularly in patients with older-onset RA. |
Cancer and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy: A longitudinal referral case-controlled outcomes evaluation. Greater cancer risk is not observed in IMNM vs controls. Cancer screening in IMNM should be individualized based on age-personal and family history, including consideration of FDG-PET/CT. Immune-treatment response did not differ with cancer. |
Causal cascade of direct and indirect effects of anifrolumab on patient-reported outcomes: structural equation modelling of two Phase 3 trials. Anifrolumab is associated with significant patient-reported improvements in aspects of HRQoL including pain, fatigue, mood, and physical function. These benefits are from the direct effect of anifrolumab treatment on disease activity and reduction in glucocorticoid dosage. |
Dual-energy CT assessment of rapid monosodium urate depletion and bone erosion remodelling during pegloticase plus methotrexate co-therapy. DECT detected subclinical MSU deposition and quantified changes over time. Rapid tophus resolution and bone erosion remodelling occurred during pegloticase/methotrexate co-therapy. |
Exploring the disparity between inflammation and disability in the 10-year outcomes of people with rheumatoid arthritis. Excess disability is persistent in RA. Controlling inflammation may not be sufficient to alleviate disability in al people with RA, and effective pain, fatigue and mood management may be needed in some groups to improve long-term function. |
Investigating Characteristics of Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy Flares Using Daily Symptom Data Collected Via a Smartphone App. IIM flares are frequent and associated with increased symptom scores. This study has demonstrated the ability to identify and characterise patient-reported and symptom-based flares (based on an a priori definition), using daily app-collected data. |
Nailfold microvascular abnormalities are associated with a higher prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with MCTD. MCTD differed from SLE, SSc and IIM in terms of the prevalence and responsiveness of NVC scleroderma patterns to immunosuppressive therapy. Detection of nailfold microvascular abnormalities in MCTD could contribute to predicting PAH and help us to understand further aspects of the pathogenesis of MCTD. |
Reliability assessment of the definition of ultrasound enthesitis in SpA: results of a large, multicentre, international web-based study. The results of this multicentre, international, web-based study show a good reliability of the OMERACT US definition of bone erosions, PD, and enthesophytes/calcifications. The low reliability of entheseal thickening and hypoechoic areas raises questions about the opportunity to revise the definition of these two major components for the US diagnosis of enthesitis. |
Retrospective longitudinal assessment of the ultrasound gout lesions using the OMERACT semi-quantitative scoring system. The OMERACT consensus-based semi-quantitative ultrasound gout scoring system showed longitudinal validity with both tophus and DC being highly responsive to treatment when assessed in static images/videos. A responsive ultrasound measure for urate deposition and a feasible joint/tendon set for monitoring were proposed and may prove valuable in future longitudinal studies. |
Plenty of the editorials are available as full text through the publisher website using the provided link
| Arthritis Res Ther |
Computational pathology for musculoskeletal conditions using machine learning: advances, trends, and challenges. We also commenting on the considerations that should be taken into account during model selection and the considerable advances in the field of computer vision outside of histopathology, which can be leveraged for image analysis. Finally, we provide a historic perspective of the previously used histopathological image analysis applications for musculoskeletal diseases, and we contrast it with the advantages of implementing state-of-the-art computational pathology approaches. While some deep learning approaches have been used, there is a significant opportunity to expand the use of such approaches to solve musculoskeletal problems. |
Letters to the editors and authors’ replies
| Arthritis Rheumatol |
all remaining publications eg case reports, images of the month, etc…
| Ann Rheum Dis |
| Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) |
| Arthritis Rheumatol |
| Rheumatology (Oxford) |